Alipay Southeast Asia is partnering with Fave to roll out seamless cross-border payments via app, starting with Singapore.

Fave, an online-to-offline (O2O) mobile platform and Alibaba Group’s financial affiliate Ant Financial will allow the Alipay app to be used for payments at restaurants and offline retailers that are part of the Fave ecosystem, with special offers and rewards for users.

With 520 million users worldwide, Alipay is one of the world’s largest online and mobile payment platforms. As more than 3 million Chinese tourists are expected to visit Singapore this year, the ability to accept Alipay will greatly benefit local restaurants and retailers and Southeast Asia as a whole, according to Fave.

“Restaurants and offline retailers are the backbone of the economy in Singapore, and we aim to help them succeed,” says Fave founder Joel Neoh. “While more than 90 per cent of retail spend is done offline, retailers are always looking for ways to reach out to mobile-savvy customers.”

Regionally, Fave covers more than 10,000 restaurants and offline retailers, and has more than a million active users who can earn rewards in Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore.

“By partnering with innovators like Fave, we are giving Chinese travellers the safe, efficient and convenient payment services they are accustomed to at home,” says Alipay Southeast Asia head Dayong Zhang.

According to Singapore Tourism Board (STB) preliminary estimates, more than 2.8 million Chinese travellers visited Singapore last year, proving the largest source of tourism receipts, spending more than S$3 billion (US$2.2 billion) to the end of September alone.

Launched 12 months ago, Fave covers such segments as F&B, beauty and wellness, and lifestyle and activities, and has acquired Groupon Indonesia, Malaysia and Singapore. The company sprang from fitness sharing platform KFit.